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'Weird Al' Yankovic Returning With New Album This Summer

Pop parodist announces date for first record since 2011's 'Alpocalypse'

"Weird Al" Yankovic will be back next month with his first new album in three years. The veteran pop parodist announced over Twitter Saturday that the record will be released on July 15th, after teasing the news with several hints of a "big important cryptic announcement coming." The final tweet was an image of Yankovic dressed in what appears to be a Russian military uniform over the date in a Soviet-reminiscent script.

Although the title and track list for the new album have not yet been released, a couple of hints have emerged. Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Yankovic had approached Iggy Azalea backstage at KS107.5's Summer Jam in Colorado to ask permission to parody one of her songs. Patton Oswalt also dropped a tantalizing clue on Twitter back in May. "Just listened to @alyankovic's upcoming album & I am in awe," he wrote. "He satirizes a band I've worshiped since the 90s & it...is...beautiful."

The new release will be Yankovic's 15th studio album and his first since 2011's Alpocalypse. It will also mark the end of his current record contract, and he speculated in an interview last year that he might begin to focus on digital distribution after that, since it would allow him to be more timely and topical. In a June 2013 blog post, however, he clarified that he was merely weighing his options, and had no plans to retire. "I truly love what I do, and if I ever stop working, it won’t be of my own free will," he wrote.

Yankovic just finished his Alpocalypse tour last summer and published his second children's book, My New Teacher and Me! a year ago.